Dr. Oz's High-Energy Weight Loss Plan

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If winter has left you feeling as energetic as Jabba the Hutt — and in about the same shape as the rotund Star Wars villain — Mehmet Oz, M.D., has two "F" words (good ones!) for you: "food" and "fun." "This plan delivers plenty of both," he says. "You'll get lots of delicious, nourishing foods — meals that are also easy to prepare. And you'll get the energy you need to enjoy your day, not just endure it."

Trust us: This expert knows what he's talking about, and not only because changing others' lives has won him Emmy Awards for The Dr. Oz Show and made seven of his books, including You: The Owner's Manual, cowritten with his friend Michael Roizen, M.D., best sellers. Nor is it simply because he continues to save lives in his work as vice-chair and professor of surgery at New York — Presbyterian/Columbia. It's also because the slim, handsome Dr. Oz loves food as much as his fans do, and he is as passionate about his favorite meals (skewered lamb with basil, for example) in person as he is on TV.

Together with Good Housekeeping's nutrition team, Dr. Oz has cooked up a plan that gives you all you need to feel great: You'll consume 1,450 calories per day, spread over three meals and three snacks. And though the pounds will come off quickly — you can drop 10 in a month — you'll feel more nourished and energized than you have in years. Really.

Why this plan works

You get more food Eating enough to keep your weight-loss rate in the safe range of two to three pounds per week is the only way to win at the diet game. "You just torture yourself if you shave off too many calories," Dr. Oz warns. "Your thyroid knows it, and within 36 hours, it thinks, Famine! and slows down your metabolism to conserve fat." And no, you can't simply tough it out. "Willpower will never trump the biology of blubber," he explains. "You can't just undo millennia of biological programming."

There's plenty of hunger-busting protein Roast beef, shrimp, smoked salmon...the plan is engineered to provide about one-third of the day's calories from protein. That's higher than what some diets call for, but still within the safe guidelines established by the Institute of Medicine. There's a reason for these yummy additions: The latest nutrition research confirms that while carb-limiting diets are often more successful than others, it's not just the lower carbs but the dieters' higher protein intake, too, that moves the numbers down on the scale. Eating protein-rich meals generates a greater feeling of satiety, producing peptides that tell the brain, I'm full. The brain then releases other chemicals that suppress the desire to eat. Another plus: Your body burns more calories digesting proteins than fats or carbohydrates — and, as a 2012 Dutch study reported, when higher-protein diets are sustained over three days, even sleeping metabolic rates go up.

You won't be bored Woman does not live by (garlicky) shrimp alone. You'll also pile your plate high with whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. The whole wheat pitas, oatmeal muesli, quinoa, and other grains in this plan deliver a number of energy-boosting B vitamins and lots of fiber. Not only is that good for your heart, but it also aids in digestion (it's hard to feel energetic when you're bloated or constipated). And the fruits and vegetables pack a one-two punch: You get the vitamins and minerals your body needs plus tummy-filling volume.

Dr. Oz, who grew up eating a largely Mediterranean diet, can't say enough about the benefits of munching on a wide variety of produce: "Fruits and veggies have pigments to protect them, and those colors provide a whole range of different nutrients." He laughs as he acknowledges that plenty of people don't share his enthusiasm for vegetables — especially broccoli. "Seriously, I adore it," he says.

His suggestion for reluctant vegetable eaters: Experiment. "One of my daughters makes broccoli with garlic and coconut oil; she also steams cauliflower with cinnamon," he says. His point is, you can trick your taste buds: "If you find a way to prepare vegetables with just the zip you like, they won't be diet foods anymore. They'll be fun to cook and fun to eat. They'll become the food you want."

Beyond the Table

Get off the couch (and into the park) To get the best results on this plan, Dr. Oz suggests engaging in 30 minutes of activity every day. It doesn't have to make you sweat, "but it does have to be enough exertion to make you breathy," he says. Translation: You're able to say a few words to your walking pal about the newly sprouted tulips, but you don't want to dissect last night's episode of The Good Wife.

Thirty minutes can sound daunting, but not if you break them up. "I get up seven minutes early and do my stretching-and-calisthenics routine," says Dr. Oz. "It's my replacement for coffee. That gives me confidence that I can control what I do; all day, I can brag to myself that I at least did some exercise."

While Dr. Oz is lucky to have a job that keeps him on his feet throughout the day, he says we can all increase our activity levels as long as goals are small and achievable. "Wear sneakers to work, and walk up the stairs or park farther away," he suggests. "As long as you think of activity in 10- or 15-minute increments, you'll get there every day. In fact, when we look at people who are 'naturally' thin, it's the movement built into their daily lives that's the secret."

Make your exercise fun and varied, too. "On weekends, I do longer workouts, including running and weights. But I also play — maybe basketball or tennis, or horsing around with my kids," says Dr. Oz.

Address your stress Whether exercise alone leads to weight loss may be debatable, but there's no question that it ups your fitness and tones your body. It's also one of the best stress-zappers out there — even better than shoe shopping. New research from the University of Maryland reports that working out doesn't just ease stress, but also seems to prevent it, emotionally buffering us from traffic jams yet to occur.

That matters because stress steals our energy and can make us gain weight. As we evolved, Dr. Oz believes, stress wasn't a reaction to a deadline or a scary Visa bill — it was connected to famine: "So when you have chronic stress, your body thinks it's thousands of years ago and you are on an arid plain in Africa. You eat anything you can get your hands on, and more than you want to." Worse, stress hormones then cause weight to be stored as abdominal fat, the type most linked to heart disease and other illnesses.

If that has you hyperventilating, Dr. Oz has a prescription: yoga. "You can do it by yourself," he says. "You don't need equipment. And it gets you in the mindset for meditating, which is a great stress reliever."

You also need to reset your approach to weight loss. "When you realize that eating well isn't a sprint but a marathon, and that it's perfectly normal to make mistakes sometimes, you'll be far less anxious," says Dr. Oz. "I like to compare it to using a GPS. When I make a mistake, my GPS doesn't say, 'How could you have missed that turn again?' It merely says, 'Recalculating.' " Every plan, he believes, needs to have room for nonjudgmental U-turns: "So you ate something, and now you regret it. Just hit Reset and start again."

Sleep! Lots of folks think they've got low energy, says Dr. Oz, when what they really need is more sleep. If you don't get enough, he warns — "and that means about seven and a half hours per night" — your body will crave carbohydrates, usually of the donut variety. The link between getting too little sleep and being overweight is well established, but happily, new research shows that it also works in reverse — a 2012 study from Johns Hopkins found that shedding about 15 pounds results in a 20% improvement in quality of sleep.

So should the magnesium-rich foods on this plan. Getting too little of this mineral is a major cause of the blahs, says Dr. Oz. "It's required for building energy stores in cells, and it's involved in metabolism. And most of the population doesn't get enough." These meals, loaded with magnesium-rich greens, whole grains, and nuts, will give you that missing pep while filling you up and thinning you down.